tring Posted October 25, 2016 #1 Share Posted October 25, 2016 We have been to Funchal a number of times, but never headed up to Monte etc. We want to go to the gardens on our day and a half visit at the begining of December, but I am a bit confused as there is obviously more than one garden. Can anyone advise which garden(s) would be the best to see. We hope to get a local bus, rather than the cable car as it would be cheaper and we have done quite a few cable cars. I have found the numbers of the buses needed for the different gardens, but is it easy to get from one garden to another once uphill or are they in totally different areas? We have done the hoho routes previously so we will be just heading for the gardens on a local bus. Any help appreciated. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hawkeyetlse Posted October 25, 2016 #2 Share Posted October 25, 2016 The two main gardens (Monte Palace Tropical Garden and Madeira Botanical Garden) are not close to each other, and there are no bus services between them, just a cable car. Do you have the map of all the bus lines? You can find it here. The gardens are indicated (#6 and #12). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tring Posted October 26, 2016 Author #3 Share Posted October 26, 2016 The two main gardens (Monte Palace Tropical Garden and Madeira Botanical Garden) are not close to each other, and there are no bus services between them, just a cable car. Do you have the map of all the bus lines? You can find it here. The gardens are indicated (#6 and #12). Thank you very much for that reply - it sets my research in the right direction, much appreciated. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
glittergal1 Posted November 3, 2016 #4 Share Posted November 3, 2016 I found the Tropical gardens were wonderful and far more interesting than the botanical , you get to the tropical gardens from the cable car Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Morgans Posted November 4, 2016 #5 Share Posted November 4, 2016 Start with a visit to the Tropical Gardens immediately at the top of the cable car - as has been said they are superb. If you don't want to do the Cable car you can always get a taxi or bus. The Botanical gardens are then accessed by another cable car a bit further on from the the first cable car stop at the top in Monte. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hambagahle Posted November 19, 2016 #6 Share Posted November 19, 2016 Both are on steep hillsides. If you start with the gardens at Monte you will walk down through them and then have to walk up again. Second cable car is about a 5-10mins easy walk from where you get off the first one. It brings you to the top of the Botanical Gardens which are wonderful - once you get down the first steep slope. There is a nice cafe in the middle of the gardens. To return to town I suggest you just take a taxi from the main gate at the bottom of the gardens. Walking all the way up to the cable car is very steep. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chez2 Posted August 7, 2017 #7 Share Posted August 7, 2017 Tring, I am just looking at doing our own thing & going up to the gardens. We have done the cable car & the basket run last time we was there, but did not have time for the gardens. How did you get on with using the local busses. Just starting to plan now for October. Thank you :-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tring Posted August 7, 2017 Author #8 Share Posted August 7, 2017 A very good map has been posted by another poster, on the word "here" on #2 of this thread. We went up to Monte last November and also a couple of times when we went to Madeira for two weeks in June July this year - all by bus. The last time we went to Monte Palace Tropical Gardens - probably best looking at reviews on trip advisor to get an overview of opinions regards that and other places. I would skip the Botanical Garden as it is a bit more difficult to get to, but allow plenty of time for what you do. The buses are way cheaper than the cable car, especially if you buy a ticket and charge it with the journeys you want before getting on the bus (either from a machine or a sales kiosk on the promenade. Funchal tourist information are very useful so worth googling them and locating the office on a map. If it looks misty up Monte, then it will be. The first time we went up we got off the bus in thick cloud (fog) and could see nothing. It cleared a bit but not good at all. The 20 and 21 are the buses from the centre of Funchal up to Monte and they leave from stop 6 (autonomia) on this map:- http://www.horariosdofunchal.pt/index-eng.php and you can use the home page of the same site to search for timetables etc:- http://www.horariosdofunchal.pt/index-eng.php Here are some other useful links:- http://www.madeira-live.com/en/gardens.html https://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/ShowForum-g189166-i434-Madeira_Madeira_Islands.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chez2 Posted August 8, 2017 #9 Share Posted August 8, 2017 Thank you so much for all that very useful info, I will take your advice & go up to the Monte one instead as my friends love gardening & vising gardening centres at home, I am sure it will be better than any garden centre in the uk lol I saw on another thread that you can not send private message to another cc member, so thank you for answering my thread. x Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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